you to have had several male figures in your childhood, they must have been drawn to her, too.”
“For a while anyway. She’s beautiful.”
“You say that like it’s a curse.”
“None of the men who dumped on my mom would have given her the time of day if she’d been plain.”
“And perhaps Baron Randall would not have been attracted to you if you were not equally as beautiful?”
“I prefer not to talk about him.”
“But he is the reason you are so reticent about becoming my friend.”
“I never said that.”
“Do you deny it?”
“No.”
“And the man your mom married, Colby. I bet he was also attracted to her beauty.”
“Darren would love Mom if she was fifty pounds overweight and had a mole on her chin.”
“He sounds like a great guy, but wasn’t he first attracted by her beauty?”
“I suppose.”
“So, it isn’t always a curse.”
“No, but then there aren’t that many men in the world like Darren.”
“Maybe there are more than you think.”
Did Angelo want her to believe he was one of them?
The prospect that he might was even scarier than her own urge to find out.
Over the next few days, Tara couldn’t help feeling he was trying to convince her of that very thing.
Against her will, she found herself more and more attracted to the business tycoon who admired her brain and never criticized the fact she played down her beauty. He was charming to everyone, making Danette practically faint with excitement when he accepted an invitation to an informal barbecue at her place on Thursday night.
Under her brazen front, Danette was actually pretty shy and this would be the first major event she’d hosted at the condo her parents had insisted on helping her buy. Members of the city’s elite, they had no problem providing their daughter with a home most people couldn’t afford after working twenty years.
Even so, Danette had been worried about the success of her party and told Tara so. Having Angelo’s attendance was a major coup, especially since so many other partygoers would be from Primo Tech.
“And don’t you even think about trying to get out of coming now that you know he’s going to be there,” Danette said seconds after Angelo exited their work area.
“I told you I don’t want to end up with another Baron Randall.”
“Good gosh, Tara! Are you blind, or something? Not only is Angelo a good ten years younger than that swine, but the two men are so different they could be opposite species.”
“Oh really? How are they so different?”
“First of all, it’s no secret Baron Randall built his empire using other people.”
A piece of information Tara wished she’d been privy to before meeting him.
“Angelo buys and salvages struggling companies. He’s gotten where he is through the sweat of his own brow.”
“Please.”
“You know what I mean. He worked to build those companies up, just like he worked on this one. He’s earned his tycoon status, not stolen it. And he’s also not a womanizer.”
“Oh, really?”
“Really. Ray did some checking for me at his newspaper. Angelo hasn’t had a steady girlfriend in more than two years and he doesn’t sleep with other men’s wives.”
“Like Ray could know that for certain.”
“Angelo’s newsworthy enough that if he had been caught with the same woman more than once it would have made at least one headline.”
“The operative word being caught and one of the great benefits of being filthy rich is the ability to buy a newspaper’s silence.”
“Baron Randall is rich too, but there are still stories about his womanizing ways in more than a few scandal sheets.”
“Maybe he didn’t care enough to have them squelched.”
“What makes you think Angelo would?”
“Okay, so you’ve got a point. He’s probably not a womanizer. Happy?”
“If you’ll cut the guy some slack, yes.”
She wasn’t going there. “Is Ray going to be at the barbecue?”
“Sure. He’s bringing his camera and taking pictures for my scrapbook.” Danette smiled dreamily. “It isn’t every day you get such a hunk of a multimillionaire in your backyard eating grilled steak.”
Tara couldn’t help laughing. “You are incorrigible.”
Her friend grinned, her eyes filled with infectious laughter. “That’s why you like me so much.”
“So, are things serious between you and Ray?”
It had been her experience that when her friends started making cooing noises about settling down, they went into matchmaker mode with a vengeance and this barbecue invitation couldn’t be seen as anything but.
Danette chewed on her bottom lip. “I think so. At least for me. He hasn’t said anything about love, but he spends all his free time with me.”
“That’s a very good sign.”
“I hope so.”
And if it were true…what did that say about her and Angelo? They weren’t dating, but he certainly managed to fill up most of her free time.
Thursday dawned bright and clear, the Oregon sunshine for once unclouded by threats of rain. Tara walked to work from the light rail terminal with a smile on her face. It was a good day to be alive.
A strong masculine hand gripped her shoulder before she walked into the building. “You look happy.”
She smiled up at Angelo, for once allowing herself to enjoy her body’s reaction to the devastating man’s presence. It wasn’t as if anything could happen in front of the building in plain view of the parking lot and the rest of Primo Tech’s employees. “I love the sunshine.”
“It’s a great day for your friend’s barbecue.”
“Yes, it is. Danette will be pleased.”
“Speaking of, would you like me to pick you
